Anti-Racism in the Episcopal Church

Like most American religious denominations descended from European peoples, the Episcopal Church has a deeply troubled history of racism in its DNA. We acknowledge this at ECC and do not shrink back from naming the sins and repenting of them. .

At the same time, part of the racism endemic in our story is the failure to lift up or even know about the rich history of African-Americans and other people of color in the Episcopal Church’s past. Here at ECC, we strive to learn this history and to celebrate the rich and diverse history from which we all benefit. The towering black intellectual, W.E.B. DuBois, for example, was a member of the Episcopal Church and one of the most moving chapters of his magesterial treatment of race in America, The Souls of Black Folk, has a chapter devoted to one of his friends and mentors, the Episcopal priest and black nationalist, Alexander Crummell. Crummell founded one of the most historic black Episcopal churches in the country, Washington D.C.’s St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. St. Luke’s, along with many other historically African-American Episcopal parishes, continue to send out servants to serve the wider world having been steeped in the rich traditions of African-American spirituality and historically Anglican liturgy. We have been blessed to have had many members of ECC over the years who have attended a number of historic black Episcopal parishes. Recently this included a student who attends Epiphany and Christ Church in Orange NY. whose rector, The Rev. Joseph A. Harmon, is a Cornell alum.

African-American history is not the only tradition represented among non-European heritages at ECC. It does hold a special place in our history since the time our longest-tenured chaplain, Gurdon Brewster, came to Cornell in 1965 after two summers spent serving with the King family at Ebenezer Baptist Church. We also have had numerous students of color come to ECC from outside the American context. Trinidad, West Africa, Guyana, Puerto Rico, Japan, China, and Korea– All of these countries have been represented at ECC in recent years. We are proud of our diversity and we expect to continue to be an international, ,multi-racial and multi-ethnic community for years to come.

We are clear-eyed, however, and know that having people of color in our community and even in leadership positions does not mean that racism does not exist here. Tokenism is a scourge in all too many places in our society, and the church is no different. We believe that having honest discussions about racist incidents on our campus is crucial to holding our institutions, including the church, accountable for the ways in which white privilege continues to bedevil Cornell and its affiliate organizations. In recent years our chaplain has preached a number of sermons on the topic and challenged us to be bold in speaking out in the spheres in which we have influence. Much work remains to be done!